Krafty Chicks challenge #837 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week is Week 2, our theme is 'Christmas' and I am your hostess. We are in the 'ber months now so if you haven't already started your Christmas cards it's time to ramp up production.  We hope you will join us and build up your collection and take the pressure off in December.  So come on over and join in the fun with us.

I went fairly clean and simple this week and used a Penny Black wooden stamp that I got from a friend in her recent destash.  I found a tin of Arteza expert pencils (which I completely forgot I had) so thought I would try them out.  I think I need a little more practice but it turned out ok.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the adorable image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" from alcohol marker friendly card (although I will cut it down later) and stamped the image at the bottom using Memento ink.  I used the Arteza pencils and sansodor (similar to gamsol) to colour the image.  I did a test one first and I messed up the hedgie so the one on my card is my second try.  I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die and also die cut 2 more stitched rectangles in slightly increasing sizes to layer up.  I also die cut a red mat layer using a plain rectangle die and adhered all the layers together using liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment onto white card using black ink and used a stitched label die to cut it out.  I also die cut a flag banner from red card and layered them together using liquid glue.  I added the sentiment label to the top left of my panel using liquid glue.  I added the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as I liked the CAS design.  For the inside I die cut the largest stitched rectangle from white and the plain rectangle from red and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I salvaged the snowman from my test run and fussy cut him out before adding him to the bottom left corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the bottom right corner with black ink.  The panel was adhered to the card base using double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

* to be updated *

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'Christmas' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.  I'll be back in a little while with my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Penny Black - snowy & hedgy wood mounted stamp

Arteza- Expert 120 coloured pencils in tin

Winsor & Newton - sansodor low odour solvent

Clearly Besotted - mini messages clear stamp - retired 

LOTV - Christmas greetings A5 clear stamp (for inside) no longer available

Gina K Designs - master layouts 01 die set (for plain rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 die set (for middle stitched rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 05 die set (for smallest stitched rectangle, flag die and strip die)

Gian K Designs - master layouts 14 die set (for largest stitched rectangle die)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Limetree Craft - persian red 200gsm card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

I have Affiliate Links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - September 26

Hello and welcome back to my blog lovely friends. It's time for the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop, which takes place on the 5th of each month. You always have the option to go for anything goes but the extra prompt this month is 'school days'. It's very apt as the little darlings have now gone back to school (although my darlings are not so little anymore and not in school lol!).  So get creating and let's see all your school themed tags. I can't wait to see what the rest of my fellow hoppers have made and I hope you can pop over to Instagram and join us.

As I did last month I decided to create a fun shaped tag as I had the perfect die in my stash - an apple shaped die.  I used some super cute images and I think it turned out really sweet.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the back of the tag:

I began by die cutting the apple from red card and the inner part from white card.  I decided to add some lines to the white piece using an old red rubber cling stamp and some light blue ink and I think it looks like it's been cut out from a notepad.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card using memento ink and coloured them with my Promarkers.  I don't have the dies so I fussy cut them out.  I stamped the sentiment directly onto the background with black ink.  I added the white piece onto the apple using liquid glue and the images onto that using foam squares.  For some final decoration I die cut some stars from gold mirror card and added them with liquid glue.  I punched a hole at the top and added a red hole reinforcer before threading through some red and white twine.  I also used some black twine to tie a bow around the apple stem.  For the back of the tag I kept it fairly simple.  I added another white piece, which I again stamped with the lined stamp, and added a few gold stars.  

I would like to enter my tag into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils (entry #3)

CRAFT challenge - back to school/ATG

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Cut It Up challenge - in shape (please delete if only cards allowed)

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - anything food and/or drink related

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use a die cut

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - circle or ATG

The Little Things challenge - mermaids and/or fish or ATG

Unicorn challenge - not square

We hope you will be inspired by our Gorgeous Gift Tags Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous tags along the way using the hashtag #gorgeousgifttagssept26.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love,

tag supplies:

TLC Designs - apple a day die set

Studio Katia - teacher's apple stamp - store sadly closed

MFT - writing tablet red rubber cling stamp

MFT - blueprints 13 & tag builder blueprints 6 (for star dies)

Waffle Flower - nesting tags dies (for hole reinforcer die)

Gina K Designs - blue sky ink pad

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

coloured card and twine from my stash

I have Affiliate Links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Just Us Girls challenge #839 - Die Week

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am here to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and this week is Die Week and Sue has given us the theme of 'thank you'. So grab your thank you or thanks dies and join in the fun with us.  We all love our dies don't we and I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations. Our guest this month is Julia Aston so please pop over and show her some love.

I used a favourite thank you die from Spellbinders and I love that it has a shadow.  Whilst I was getting that die from my stash I came across the 'build-a-wreath' die set that I haven't used yet so thought I would bust that out too.  As the thank you die cut is quite large I decided to make a square card for a change so that I could comfortably fit everything in.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by creating my card base; I cut white card to 11" x 5 1/2" and scored it at 5 1/2" to make my 5 1/2" square card base.  I also cut a white panel 5 1/4" square and embossed it using a leafy folder.  I used coloured card from my scraps bin to cut out all the branches for the wreath, the flowers and the gorgeous bow (my scraps bin could keep me going until the end of time I think lol!) and assembled the flowers and bow with liquid glue.  I die cut the thank you from gold mirror card and the shadow from vellum and adhered them together using liquid glue.  I arranged the branches to make the wreath shape and adhered them with liquid glue onto my embossed panel.  I added the bow at the top and the flowers on the bottom of the wreath using foam squares.  I added tiny slivers of foam tape behind the thank you word and added that into the centre of the wreath.  I finished off with some gold disc sequins.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and adhered it to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel 5 1/4" square and partially embossed the bottom using the leafy folder.  I had one flower and two branches left over so added them to the bottom right corner using liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with dark brown ink before adding the panel to the card base using double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - use an EF optional twist: bees

Colorful Options challenge - rusty brown (option 2 and 4)

Creative Inspirations - hello autumn

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - sweater weather (inspired by the colours)

Mix It Up challenge - ATG + optional embossing

Pinspirational challenge - orange, red, brown & yellow

The Four Seasons challenge - anything goes fall optional mood board

Tic Tac Toe challenge - top row across: letters/numbers, dimension, sparkle/shine

Triple B challenge - birds blooms or butterflies and optional mood board

Try It On Tuesday challenge - emboss it

I can't wait to see all your die cuts this week and look forward to seeing your entries in the linky. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for the rest of the design team.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - thank you dies

Spellbinders - build-a-wreath die set

Spellbinders - branching out embossing folder 

Spellbinders - envelope of wonder stamp sentiments clear stamp

Spellbinders - gold smooth discs color essentials sequins

Gina K Designs - dark chocolate ink pad (to stamp inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

I have Affiliate Links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #836 - Birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week is Week 1, our theme is 'birthday' and our hostess is Leanne. We always need birthday cards, gift packaging and decorations so I'm sure you will find this week a breeze!  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I found a stamp and matching stencil in my stash that I don't think I've ever used so I thought it was time to show it some love.  I went with a pretty colour combo of purple, yellow and green and made a shaped card.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped the image using a sandy beach ink pad; I left my stamp in the Misti whilst I stencilled, and then re-stamped it with black ink at the end so that I wouldn't smudge the black ink when doing my blending.  I used 2 shades of lilac on the larger flowers and 2 shades of yellow on the smaller flowers and buds.  I used 2 shades of green for the leaves.  It's a really pretty, girly colour combo and not one I use very often but I should.  I die cut the panel using the notched corner frame die and decided to use the largest notched corner die to make a shaped card, which I cut from dark purple card.  I added the stencilled panel onto the card base with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment with black ink and used the coordinating die to cut it out (as well as 3 plain white ones so that I could layer it up) and then added that two thirds of the way down using liquid glue.  I finished off with some black pearls.  Apart from the sentiment there isn't much dimension on my card (for a change).  For the inside I cut a white panel using the notch corner frame die.  I would usually add some more stencilling on the bottom of my panel to coordinate with the front but to be honest I was pressed for time and had already cleaned my stencil so instead used a piece of yellow patterned paper, again cut with the die, and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I also added a thin strip of the purple card above the paper with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the panel onto my card base with liquid glue.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Color Dare challenge - #718 (I used purple, yellow and green)

Cupcake Inspirations challenge - in the garden (flowers)

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG

NBUS challenge - use new and unused stuff (my stamp/stencil)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - stamp it

Stencil Fun challenge - use a stencil optional theme: yellow

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms and/or butterflies optional mood board

Unicorn challenge - not square

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'birthday' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.  I'll be back in a little while with my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Pinkfresh Studio - delicate floral print cling stamp & stencil

Spellbinders - notched corner frames die set

Gina K Designs - courtyard silhouettes stamp & die (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - springy sketches mini stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - light lilac, medium lilac, lemon drop, wild dandelion, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus, sandy beach

Gina K Designs - black, gold & silver metallic pearl mix

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Teresa Collins - every day moments 6x6 paper pad - discontinued

purple card from my stash

I have Affiliate Links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 18

Hello lovely friends; I'm here to share my card for the Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 18 and we have a lovely mood board to inspire you this week. There is something for everyone on this board; black cats, squirrels, pumpkins, leaves so I'm sure this is going to be a great hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

Here is the beautiful mood board:

Isn't it fun with such gorgeous images.  My eye was immediately drawn to the colourful rainbow of pumpkins/gourds and I decided to make my version of that image.  I drew their faces with a marker which adds to the whimsy I think and did some soft ink blending in the background.  No stamps were harmed in the making of this card lol!  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at my 'dodgy' faces:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used it in landscape orientation (which I don't do very often) so that I could fit all of my pumpkins/gourds in a row.  I die cut them from coloured card from my scraps bin and used a memento black marker to draw their faces.  I also die cut the leaves from a pale beige card and ink blended them with kraft, red and green inks for an autumnal look.  I cut a strip of the beige card and gave it a woodgrain effect using the kraft ink pad.  I ink blended the centre of the panel using jelly bean green, sea glass and sandy beach ink pads and also added some water drops and white spatter.  I added the 'wood' strip at the bottom with liquid glue and added the rainbow pumpkins/gourds with foam squares.  I added the most of the leaves at the top of the panel with liquid glue, apart from two, which were adhered with foam squares.  I used a pre-printed sentiment and die cut it with a sentiment strips die and added some scrap black card behind for dimension before adding to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue.  I finished off with a few gold sequins.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel for stability and a little dimension and adhered it to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added another 'woodgrain' strip to the bottom with liquid glue.  I die cut three more pumpkins/gourds and added them in the bottom right corner and also added two leaves in the top right corner, all with liquid glue.  I used another pre-printed sentiment, again die cut with a sentiment strips die, and added that on the 'wood' strip using liquid glue.  The panel was then adhered to my card base using liquid glue.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils

Colorful Options challenge - rusty brown - option 3: rainbow

Creative Inspirations challenge - hello autumn

Snippets Playground challenge - use your left over pieces (all my die cuts are from scraps)

The Four Seasons challenge - anything goes fall season optional inspiration board

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cardclubhouse2026 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs, 

card supplies:

Spellbinders - boo-licious fall cupcake (for pumpkin/gourd & leaf)

Spellbinders - gold smooth disc color essentials sequins

Gina K Designs - ink pads - key lime, jelly bean green, sea glass, tomato soup, honey mustard, kraft, sandy beach

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Simon Says Stamp - EZ strips Halloween & EZ strips reverse Halloween (gifted to me by a friend)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

coloured card from my scraps bin 

I have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x